A 60-year-old man called police and threatened to kill Muslims on the day of the Manchester terror attack, a court heard.

John Taylor of Red Lion Court, Fakenham, pleaded guilty to making threats to kill and communicating a threatening message when he appeared before King’s Lynn magistrates.

Jane Foster, prosecuting, said on May 22 this year, at 5.23pm, Taylor called the police and threatened to shoot Muslims and Turks.

Mrs Foster added the police call handler said he sounded intoxicated and the language used “demonstrated hostility to Turkish people and Muslims”.

The court heard police officers visited Taylor’s address the same day but he had shut the door and refused to speak to them.

The following day, on May 23, police officers went to see Taylor again at his home at 5.40pm and found him intoxicated.

Mrs Foster said Taylor, who is unemployed, told police officers he was English and that they needed to speak to “them Muslims”.

She added Taylor said to police they did not know what happened in Manchester and that he would smash their shop windows and stab them. He said if the police did not arrest him now they would be back after he “knifes one of them Muslims”, Mrs Foster added.

In a police interview, Taylor said he got into an argument outside a kebab shop after drinking in the pub. He said he had been in a strop and said nasty things when he was drunk.

He said he had no intention to carry out the threats and he was not a racist because he went to Turkey on holiday, the court heard.

Alistair Taunton, mitigating, said Taylor was “embarrassed, ashamed and disappointed with himself”.

He said Taylor was outside the pub on May 22 when somebody made a comment to turkish people nearby and they thought it was made by Taylor. After an argument ensued, Taylor went home and took the wrong medication, which he takes for depression and anxiety, Mr Taunton added.

Chairman of the bench Sophie Archer told Taylor the threats he made were serious and taken seriously by the police.

He was given a conditional discharge for three years and fined £300. He was also ordered to pay £85 court costs and £30 victim surcharge.